Aeroplane.



0.H,DUN0AN.

AEROPLANE. 7 APPLICATION FILED Aug. 23, 1 10. 1,004,559, Patented Oct.3, 1911.

' a 81IEETSSHEET 1.

WITNESSES.-

INVENTOH (rwlas/E. [7117mm Br 7? g G. H. DUNCAN.

, AEROPLANE. v t APPLIUATiON 21min AUG. 23, 1910. I 1,004,559 Patented0ct.3,1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

it I: l N If 31 WITNESSES: INVENTOR A TTORNEYS' 0. EL. DUNG AN.

AEROPLANE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2a, 1910.

' HI :m WITNESSES; 611 l/VVE/VTQR 10 a CVzmias/iflzwcm ATTORNEYS CHARLESILDUNCAN, on 'NEW YORK, N. Y.

AEROPLAN E.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1911.

Application filed August 23, 1910. Serial No. 578,50}. I i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. DUNCAN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the city of New York, borouglrof Man- :hat'ta'n, inthe county and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedAeroplane, of which the following is a full, clear, and enactdescription.

This invention relates to certain-improvements in aeroplanes, and moreparticularly to an improved means for automatically maintaining theequilibrium of the machine in variable winds.

Certain features of my present invention constitute improvementsover'the machine disclosed in my prior application, Serial 'No. 544,388,filed February 17, 1910.

One important feature of my present invention is the' controlling ofailerons by thetilting of the main plane, so that the ailerons willautomatically operate to right the machine when its equilibrium has beendisturbed by a sudden gust of wind. I

A further important feature'involves the relative adjusting of the load,main plane or planes, and the propeller, $01 as to vary the center ofgravity and'the point of thrust in accordance with the weight of theload or Rct'erenceis to be had to the accompanying drawings, formingapart of this specification, in which similar "characters of referenceindicate corresponding parts in all the figures, and in which---"-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed in accordancewithmy invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevation; Fig. 3 is a front elevationof a slightly modified form in which the planes are each formed ofseparatesections; Fig. 4 isa top plan view of a portion of .theconstruction illustrated in Fig. 3; F ig. 5 is a View of a portion ofthe structure shown in Fig. 3, but/on a larger scale; Fig. 6 is aperspective view-offthe.

connecting means between the'plane and the central rodor-Inast; and Fig.7 is a. central detail on the line 7 7 of Fig. 2. p

The specific construction illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, is designedsomewhat along the same general lines as the aeroplane illus trated inmy previous application above referred to; that is, there 1s employed amain plane 10 and an upper plane 11, both of winch are connected ,to avertical mast or rod in such a way that both. may tilt, and the twoplanes are connected i that they tilt in opposite directions. One of theplanes is caused to rock upon a spider present-mg a curved surface, andthe load is suspended from the lower end of the mast or red, so that itacts substantially as a pendu- -lum. In my present form, the planesinstead of being circular, arc rectangular, and

instead of having a universal movement in respect to the mast, in alateral'plane. I H

As illustrated, themain plane 10 is connected to two forwardly andrearwardlyextending rods 13, 13,,which act as braces, and these rods areconnected to a spider 14:, which is free to slide vertically n the mast,as is shown particularly inFig'. The rods 13 serve as forward andrearreinforcements and prevent the front androar edges of the planes fromraising o'r lowering. but they also actas an axis about which the planesmay tilt laterally. For reinforcing and bracing the plane and te-preventrelative HUNG-- 'n'ient of one portion in respect to another,

the plane adjacent 'its jcenter portion anay have depending: arms 1Fcomieeted to.a"rin 16, which latter may he connected to the edges of theplane by tie bars orfgirv ropes 1.7.

Mounted above the plane is aspider having outwardly-extending side arms.18. and outu-ardly-eittending and 'upwardl \'-curred armsl9, which areconnected to the arms 1 at their outer ends. f'lhe arms 19 constituterockers upon which thelna'in plane 10 they are free to tilt only maytilt. The spider and plane have relative movement, lengthwise of themast. and both are held against rotation in vrespect thereto. As shown,thespider is rigid upon the mast and the plane at its center may slidedown the mast. ,N'suitable spring 20 normallytends to hold the centerportion of the plane up agai'nst thef curved arms 1.9, 'so as to betangent to the latter To facilitate the rocking'of the plane on thespider arms 19, the spider ll nayjhave a rectangular frame 21, providedwith out- ,vardly.-cxtending' reinforcing members which are in, thefornrof inverted Tiroiis. The rocker arms 19 maybe in the form of ventany engage with the inverted channels, iron fitting in the channel, asindicated particularly in Fig. 7.: To additionally prerotation of'theplane in. respect to the spider, the plane may carry guide rods 23 atits outer end, which may slide through sockets or spider arms, and thespider arms may carry springs 24., which side flanges of the T-irons,Fig. 7, so as to normally in the position indicated in as illustrated inhold the two Fig. 2. As the plane tilts in either direction, the T-ironrocks along on the curved spider arm, and the ivot-al center movesoutwardly and upwardly, while .the center of the plane moves downwardly.The springs 24 cushion this movement, and tend to return the parts totheir normal position.

The spider l4 extends outwardly in opposite directions -from the mast,soas to control the lateral tilting of the plane. The spider acts toprevent the forward or rearward tilting. The upper arms 18 of the spiderextend outwardly beyond the ends of the main plane 10, so. as toconstitute spindles or axles 25 for auxiliary planes constitutingailerons 26. These ailerons are free to tilt forwardly or rearwardly,and

, are so connected to the main plane as to be a way as to counteracttilting, I provide automatically operated by the tilting of the latter.As shown, the main plane is provided with upwardly-extending rods 27, ateach'side edge, which rods at their upper ends areconnected to,theadjacent ecl e of the ailerons. Therods are at one si e of the center ofmovement of the ailerons, so that when one side edge of the" main planemoves downwardly, it will pull down the: rear edge of the aileron. Thiswill raise the front edge of the aileron, andthe forward movement of themachine will tend to lift the machine at that edge. At the same time,the raising of the opposite edge of the main plane will raise the rearedge of its adjacent aileron, which will tend to depress the machine atthat edge and restore equilibrium. Thus, the lateral tilting of the mainplane operates the ailerons in such the said tilting.

As a further means for counteracting the an upper plane '28 connected toa spider 29 in such a way that it may tilt laterally in the same manneras does the main plane 10. The spider 29 is held up by a spring 30,- andthe two planes are connected together by diagonally-disposed tie rods orguide rods 31, acting to cause one plane to'tilt in the op ositedirection to the other. When one e ge of the main plane 10 is raised,the' guys or stays 31 will pull down the opposite edge of the upperplane, so as tobring the two planes at an angle to each other andcounteract, the tilting of the main planes to normal position. 'Thecontrolling the mainleg of the T- ried in a basket or lower :endf-of theof th Fig. 1, but may be spread out downwardly,

plane and return both of one plane by the other is substantially thesame as illustrated in my previous applica tion above referred to,except that in the present instance, the from tilting in other than alateral direction.

The passengers,

mast or rod 12. Within this car is a suitable member, not shown, foroperating the propeller 32.

aviator, or load, is carcar'3l supported at the planes are prevented noImportant feature of my invention 3 involves the 'varyin of the relativepositions of the supporting plane, the car and the ropell'er, so as tovary thecenter of gravity, and the center of thrust. *iAs illustrated, ashaft 33 operated by the engine, extends vertically adjacent the mast,and the propeller shajft is supported in a bearing 34 extendingsubstantially at right angles to the shaft. Abevcl gear is keyed to theshaft 33 and free to move vertically thereon and intermeshing with abevel gear on the propeller shaft. to the mast and hasoutwardly-extending arms, within which is mounted a vertically movablescrew 36, oneend of the latter being connected to the sleeve 34. Byrotating the screw 36, the sleeve 34, constituting the bearing of thepropeller shaft, may be raised or lowered in respect to the car and thesupporting plane. The bevel gear on the shaft 33 is so mounted that ittravels with the propeller shaft, and remains. in en gagemcnt with thebevel gear on the latter. Opposite to the propeller is any suitable formof rudder or guiding means 37, controlled in any suitable manner by anyappropriate form of mechanism, for instance, a lever 38. This part ofthe device constitutes no essential portion of my invention.

Below the car, I mount a keel 39, formed A bracket 35 is secured of aplurality of pivoted sections adapted to move relatively to eachother-in the same manner as the parts of a fan. The'several sections ofthe keel 39 are normally raised to a position closely adjacent the underside e car, as is illustrated in solid lines in as indicated in dottedlines. The sections are connected by a rod 41 to the spider 40, so thatas the spider is forced downwardly by the tilting-of the plane 10, thesections of the keel Wlll be spread out and come into operation. Thus,when a sudden gust of wind strikes the plane and tends to tilt,itlaterally,

so as to resist the swinging or lateral tilting of the car 32.

For additionally preventing the lateral drifting or skidding of 'themachine while turning a sharp'curve, I preferably employ membersnormally disposed in a horizontal lateral resistance, but

plane, so as to ofierno movable toward a vertical position whenever thekeel automatically comes into operative position,

erably between the main plane and the up-.

per plane. The two leaves of each pair are hinged together, and theirpivots 45 are mounted horizontally and parallel to each other and extendin the general direction of movement of the machine. The two pivots areheld rigid in respect .to each other by one or more transverse braces 46and they are supported by suitable rods 47 extending up fromthe mainspider. The two leaves of each pair are connected to two separate levels48, 48, and these are connectedby links to a vertical rod 4C9. Bypressing upwardly on the rod, the links serve to spread the arms 44apart and thus separate the leaves, for instance to the positionindicated in dotted lines at the right-hand side'of Fig. 2. This forms alaterally facing pocket to catch the air as? the machine driftslaterally. There is a separate rod for each pair of leaves, so that thetwo leaves of either pair may be spread apart, and these two rodspreferably extend down to a position adjacent the car, where they may bemanually operated. If desired, they may be connected to the keel 39, soas to be automatically opened upon the opening of the latter. The upperends of the rods may be connected together by a transversebrace made'upof separate links 50, and a collar 51 slidahle on the mast. I

In the specific form illustrated in Figs. 3, 4 andb, I embody a fewchanges in the mechanical construction of the parts, and particularly, 1form both the upper and lower planes of separate relatively-movablesections. The lower or. mainplane is illustrated as being formed of twosections 10 and 10, each pivotally connected to an intermediate section10. Instead of mount ing the plane to move vertically I form the spiderof two separate sections, each having an upper horizontal arm 18". and alower curved arm 19. The main mast or rod 12 of the machine has twoseparate parallel sections 12 and 12, upon which the two sections of thespider are independently movable vertlcally. *Two separate springs 20and 20 normally press the two spider sections down against thecorresponding plane sections' The two spider sections carry the twoailerons 26 and 26 in exactlythe same manner as in the form firstdescribed. .The two ailerons are controlled in their movement by corresonding rods 27* and 27", which tilt the ai erons to restore the equilitrriurn of the machine when the edges of the balancing plane are forceddownwardly or upwardly.

The mast 12, at its upper end above the two sections 12" and 12 isprovided with outwardly-extending branches 1% and 12*, upon which arepivotally mounted two separate planes 11 and 11". These two planes 11and 11 are normally'in alinementwith each other, but are free to tiltindependently. Each of the upper planes is connected to itscorresponding section of the lower plane by a. brace or guy rope 31 sothat when the outer edge of one plane moves upwardly, the

outer edge of the corresponding section of the main plane will movedownwardly, and

vice versa. This permits the counterbalancing action to take place atone side of the machine independently of any action at the opposite sideof the machine. 1

In Fig. 5 l have illustrated a slightly diflerent mounting of thespider, in which the main mast 12 has an outwardly-extending bracket 42,having an upwardly-extending post 43 at its outer end, upon which thespider section 18 may move vertically.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A flying machine,having a main plane, a spider upon'which said plane may rock, and anaileron carried by said spider.

,2. A flying machine, havin 'a main plane, a spider upon which saidplane may rock, and an ai'leron-carried'by said spider and controlled bythe rocking of said main plane.

A flying machine, havin a main plane,

asnider upon which said p ane may rock I to vary the elevation of aportion of the plane in respect to the remainder of the machine, and abalancing plane carried by said spider.

4. A flying machine, having amain plane, a transverse 'y-extending trackcurving upwardly at its outer ends and upon which said P y nd springscarried by said-"" track for controlling the rocking movement. 5. Aflying machine, having a plane mounted totilt latera1ly,'a laterallytiltable auxiliary plane connected thereto to tilt simultaneously inthe, opposite direction, and a balancing plane controlled by themovement of one of said first-mentioned planes' .6. A flying machine,having a plane, a

curved guide upon which said plane may rock, and a series of springscoming into. operation. successively, for resisting said rockingmovement.

7. A flying machine, having a main plane formed of a plurality ofindependentlymovable sections, an upper plane formed of av plurality ofindependently-movable sections, and connections betweenthe sections ofone plane and'the corresponding sections of: the other plane, forinsuring their simultsneous mpvement in opposite directions.

A. flying machine, having a mam plane tiltable infrespect to theremainder' of the. machine, and avkeel movable into:operative positionupon the tilting of said plane.

7 Copies of this 'patentmay be obtained for apart to ofler a lateralresistance to 'andmovable to 'form a pocket facing laterally to preventthe lateral driftingv of the machine when roundingla curve.

11. A flying machine said planes, said leavesbeing hinged toget-her andnormally disposed adjacent each other. and means for spreading saidleaves ofthe machine.

12. flying machine having means for resisting the ateral movement of themachine, said' means comprising two leavespivoted together and adap .tobe sepaaving a main plane, a superposed plane, a pair of leaves betweenskidding rated "to form an air pocketfaci'ng laterally in the directionin whichthe machine tends to skid.

13. A flying machine having a supporting plane, an extensible keel atthe lower portion of the machine for aflordingresistance to the lateralmovement of said lower portion and a memberm'ovable to present 'allaterally facing pocket adjacent the upper portion of the machine to resistthe lateral movement of said upper portion.-

14. A flying machine havin a main plane,"

a. spider upon which said p ane may rock,

an aileron carried by said spider, the edgeof said plane being movabletoward and from said aileron and operative connections between saidplane and said aileron for tiltlliig the latter upon the rocking of themain P w I a t In testimony whereof I have signed. my name to thisspecification in the presence of two subscribin witnesses.

' I HARLES H. DUNCAN. Witnesses:

CLAIR FAIRBANK, PHILIP D. ROLLHAUS.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington,D.

